[asia-apec 307] FOCUS-on-APEC#9 Part8

[gonzalo]

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Will TodayÕs Asia-Pacific End up like Europe in 1914?

This is one of the concerns that has prompted the Peace Research 
Institute of TokyoÕs International Christian University, Focus on 
the Global South of Chulalongkorn UniversityÕs Social Research 
Institute in Bangkok, and BerkeleyÕs Nautilus Institute for Security 
and Sustainable Development to sponsor a conference on 

ALTERNATIVE SECURITY SYSTEMS IN THE ASIA 
PACIFIC REGION

at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, March 27-30, 
1997. 

In the aftermath of the November 1996 APEC Summit, the Asia-
Pacific region may look relatively placid, but it is actually a 
thinderbox of territorial disputes, resource conflicts, antagonisms 
inherited from the Cold War, and a variety of internal struggles 
with external impacts. 

With the end of the Cold War, hopes were high that conditions of 
lasting peace would be created in the region. However, prosperity, 
instead of spinning off peace, has sparked an arms race, and, 
despite some tentative initiatives, a multilateral system to preserve 
the peace is nowhere in sight. Instead, what passes for a regional 
security system is a volatile informal system with three legs: 
continuing US unilateralism, balance-of-power diplomacy, and 
arms races. There is, indeed, a resemblance between fin-de-siecle 
Asia-Pacific region and late 19th century Europe, which was 
entrapped in what Henry Kissinger called Ôthe balance-of-power 
doomsday machine.Õ

NGOÕs and peopleÕs organisations took the lead in opposing the 
nuclearization of the Pacific during the Cold War. In the post-Cold 
War era, however, aside from the nuclear question, security issues 
have not had as much prominence among NGO concerns as 
environment and development issues. Indeed, the much-vaunted 
Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ) is 
largely a governmental initiative, and there is little genuine NGO 
participation in the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Yet civil society throughout the world has been full of rich 
explorations into new concepts of security, such as real security or 
comprehensive security. There is also an increasing recognition by 
citizensÕ groups that multilateral security systems are not enough, 
and lasting peace can only be achieved via people-centred security 
systems rather than state-centric ones. 

This conference seeks to bring the security question to the top of 
the agenda of civil society in the Asia-Pacific. Activists and 
academic experts, citizens and selected representatives of 
governments and multilateral organisations from various parts of 
the region will come together for a close look at the points of 
tension and conflict in the region and discuss ways to create the 
new institutions of peace and security that are so necessary if the 
region is to avoid the fate of Europe of 1914.

For more information, please get in touch with:

Alternative Security Conference Secretariat
Focus on the Global South
Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute
Phyathai Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Tel: 662 218 7363  Fax: 662 255 9976  Email: focus at ksc9.th.com
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Book Launched at Manila PeopleÕs Forum on APEC Now 
Available!

ÔAPEC: Four Adjectives in Search of a NounÕ is an exciting 311 
page volume containing
· An APEC Primer
· Profiles of 18 economies and leaders
· Original confidential ÔIndividual Action PlansÕ for liberalisation 
submitted by each country

Limited number of copies are available at US$50 only. This amount 
covers air mail / shipping expenses. To obtain a copy, please send 
your money order / bank draft to 

Focus on the Global South
c/o CUSRI, Wisit Prachuabmoh Building
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok 10330
Thailand
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Watch Out for the Next Issue of Focus-on-APEC!

The coming issue of FOCUS-on-APEC will consist of all the 
presentations and available transcripts of discussions at the Manila 
People's Forum.
______________________________________________________
FOCUS-on-APEC is produced by Focus on the Global South 
(FOCUS). Edited by Aileen Kwa. Contact information: c/o CUSRI, 
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330 Thailand. Tel: (66 2) 
218 7363/7364/7365, Fax: (66 2) 255 9976, E-Mail: 
focus at ksc9.th.com, Website: http://www.nautilus.org/focusweb